Method for providing aggregation of trading on multiple alternative trading systems

ABSTRACT

A method for performing financial trading amongst a plurality of alternative trading systems using a common financial computer platform. The method including the steps of receiving at the common financial computer platform a buy-order for a prescribed number shares at a prescribed price. Electronic communication is then established between the common financial computer platform and each of the plurality of alternative trading systems. At least a portion of the buy-order is then submitted from the common financial computer platform to each of the plurality of alternative trading systems. The common financial common platform then monitors each of the plurality of alternative trading systems to determine if at least a portion of the buy-order was executed by one of the plurality of alternative trading systems. And if yes, then that indicated execution for one of the plurality of alternative trading systems is automatically accepted and automatically canceled are the remaining buy orders that were submitted to the other alternative trading system which were not yet executed.

I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to computer systems for tradingand analyzing selected securities, and more particularly, a method foraggregating and integrating securities trading information and orderplacement to and execution from various Alternative Trading Systems(ATS) on a common platform.

II. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are currently three primary types of computer accessible tradingsystems for securities such as stocks, bonds, commodities andderivatives. The first is the conventional stock exchange systemexemplified by the New York Stock Exchange and New York MercantileExchange. On such exchanges, the market is made for each security by asingle registered stock dealer, such as a registered stock specialist,who has a seat on the exchange. In addition to face-to-face andtelephone communication to the dealers/specialists on the floor,computers are used to send orders to the dealers/specialists on theexchange floor. Information as to the buy and sell prices (bid/offerprices, respectively) are supplied by the dealer/specialist to theexchange and brokers through the dealer/specialist's trading computerterminal. Electronic orders are matched by the dealer/specialistmaintaining an orderly market. Upon matching an order, thedealer/specialist confirms the execution with the trading terminal andan automated central order book that stores transaction data.

The second system is made up of electronic exchanges which utilizeelectronic access to dealer posted market prices without a negotiatingspecialist or floor based exchange. The largest of these is NASDAQ. Itis a totally computer-based market where each member dealer can make itsown market in the stocks traded on the exchange through a computernetwork. Dealers trading a significant number of shares in a stock intheir own name and profiting from the spread (i.e., the differencebetween the price which they purchase shares and the price for whichthey sell them) are called market makers. Market makers are most often,but not always, large financial institutions. There are usually a numberof market makers in a stock, each bidding and offering stock forthemselves or their customer.

Electronic exchanges may place, match, record and confirm transactionsthrough their computer network. If a market order is placed through, forexample NASDAQ without any restrictions, the NASDAQ computers make theactual match between an offer price and the bid price and thus willselect the parties for the transaction. However a broker may indicate apreference to buy from or sell to a particular market maker.

Historically, market makers have solely determined the prices forsecurities on electronic exchanges such as NASDAQ. Non-members mustplace their orders and their customers' orders with a member dealer orECN who receives a placement fee. Similar to other securities exchanges,electronic exchanges, such as NASDAQ, receive a fee for each suchtransaction.

The third trading system is Alternative Trading Systems (“ATS”), whichprovide ATS users and electronic exchange users and buy side traders, anelectronic network by which they may directly interact with order flowand execute their orders independent of a market maker or specialist. Bydoing so, members avoid conventional fees while accessing liquidityanonymously. ATS's provide the user the opportunity to buy/sell stockwithout using an intermediary such as a broker, specialist, or marketmaker. Therefore, a buy side trader avoids the perils of displayinghis/her order to the street—i.e. the specialist buying/selling stockahead of his/her order for a penny above his/her limit, the brokershopping the order around, and inevitably the price running in anunfavorable direction because they have shown their hand. Since there isno “middle man”, the buy side trader trades directly with another traderwho has an order on the opposite side. In addition to maintaininganonymity, the average trade size in the 6 major ATS's ranges from 5600shares to 70,000 shares while the average trade size across all of thetraditional exchanges has decreased significantly since the introductionof decimalization in 2001. In fact, as of 7/31/04, the average tradesize on the NYSE is 410 shares (according to NYSE.com). Trade costanalysis has shown that it is advantageous for buy side traders tobuy/sell large blocks of stock at one price thus avoiding market timingrisk and opportunity cost.

The popularity of ATS's has increased as the need for anonymous accessto liquidity has exploded and the need to achieve best execution at thelowest cost has increased sharply. ATS's provide electronic execution ata reduced commission rate. The industry standard commission rate to atraditional broker-dealer is between 0.04 to 0.05 cents per share whileATS's are paid 0.02 cents per share. While ECN's are a subset of ATS'S,this invention focuses exclusively on ATS's which are consideredcrossing networks. ECN's display limit orders if no internal match isfound in the system. ATS's maintain their limit orders in a black box,thus maintaining the anonymity of their clients and their respectiveorders. Therefore, the limit book is never displayed to marketparticipants. The first indication that an ATS had orders on its bookoccurs after a match is found. At this point, the match or trade wouldhit the third market tape and execution reports are simultaneously sentback to the participants.

There are currently numerous crossing networks, including, but notlimited to: ITG Post; Liquidnet; Harborside; Instinet Cross; Pipeline,and NYFIX Millenium. Given the recent surge in electronic trading,demand for access to the individual ATS'S and the resulting traffic hasincreased sharply.

Typically, each user of an ATS has an application on his/her desktopproviding electronic access to the ATS's crossing network. Members sendtheir bids and offers electronically and conduct transactions throughthe resulting network. Each ATS operates its crossing networkdifferently while its computer network takes into consideration allorder information supplied to it in real time by its members. Whilenever displaying the orders or the members' identity, the crossingnetwork records which computer and thus, which member posted each bid oroffer. A match is found when the individual orders of a buyer and aseller in the crossing network have the same criteria (namely order sizeand price limit) and thus, match up for execution. The execution isprinted on the tape and the participants are informed that theirrespective orders have been filled. All the while maintaining theiranonymity as the buyer has no idea who the seller is and vice versa. Thepreviously accepted bid and offers are no longer available for theupcoming match or cross until the buyer and seller reload.

The demand for these crossing networks provided by ATS's has grownsignificantly in recent years. When decimalization was introduced in2001, the markets became extremely fragmented and the average trade sizedecreased substantially. While these changes have benefited retailinvestors, it has become increasingly difficult for buy side traders tofind liquidity, or large blocks of stock in the inside quote. At thesame time, buy side traders are measured by much higher standards thanever before. Pre trade analytics and trade cost analysis are theindustry standard by which every trade is measured. The buy side tradermust add value to the investment process and prove quantitatively thathe/she is providing investors of their company's fund with bestexecution on each and every trade. With competition greater than everbefore and a real need to find liquidity anonymously, the volume tradedon ATS's has exploded, now totaling an average of 100 million shares aday across the six major ATS's.

The development of a multitude of ATS's and Algorithmic tradingsolutions has created a tremendous challenge for buy side traders. Thesesystems have also contributed to major fragmentation of order-flow. Thisenvironment has made it increasingly difficult to capture the other sideof a trade. Large institutional buyers/sellers of an illiquid stock findit harder to find that other side without adversely affecting the price.This is largely due to order flow being spread out among severalalternative trading systems and the participants varying on each system.Furthermore, there are six major crossing networks or ATS's currently.If the asset management company for which buy side trader works onlyallows access to 2 or 3 ATS's on their desktop, he/she is missing out onsignificant volume (on the other ATS's) yet is judged against thecomposite volume for any stock in which he/she has an order. This isespecially detrimental when trading small cap and/or illiquid stockssince one block of stock could potentially make up most of the dailyvolume.

While it is possible to subscribe to all 6 ATS's independently on atrader's desktop, it poses several problems: it gives the illusion thatthere are 6 individual orders in the marketplace causing adverse pricefluctuations. Using 6 systems simultaneously is cumbersome, timeintensive, requires extensive training, poses substantial risk to theirfirm in possible errors, and takes up substantial bandwidth thus slowingdown the trading desk's order management system and other tradingapplications.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to overcome theabove-noted deficiencies associated with existing protocols for usingATS's and to provide a unique strategy to minimize market impact whileaccessing liquidity found in ATS's. One stop shopping reduces costs inan increasingly competitive environment, sidesteps traditionalmarketplaces (i.e. NYSE and NASDAQ where market makers and specialistsoften take advantage of order flow information), time efficient, andavoids issue of having the buy side trader's OMS blotter swept.(Liquidnet sweeps the entire order blotter of their users. This is asignificant deterrent to some buy side trading desks who don't currentlysubscribe to their network).

Unlike LAVA, an aggregating system which simply provides ACCESS toECN's, exchanges and only a few ATS's, the present invention willintuitively steamline the data most streamline the data most relevant toachieving best execution of the trade. By providing acess to all majorATS's, and through the use of its unique strategy and smart router, buyside traders exclusively will have the ability to interact withliquidity anonymously in real time. liquidity anonymously in real time.

III. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofAlternative Trading Systems using a common financial computer platform.The method including the steps of receiving at the common financialcomputer platform a buy-order for a prescribed number shares at aprescribed price wherein the buy order includes the number of stockshares to be purchased, price limits for the number of stock shares tobe purchased and the percentage of the buy-order that may be consummatedduring a business day. Electronic communication is then establishedbetween the common financial computer platform and each of the pluralityof alternative trading systems wherein the common financial computerplatform being configured to individually communicate with each of theplurality of alternative trading systems without any furthermodification to the common financial computer platform.

At least a portion of the buy-order is then submitted from the commonfinancial computer platform to each of the plurality of alternativetrading systems. Preferably, the number of shares prescribed in thebuy-order is divided by a number equal to the number of alternativetrading systems contained in said plurality of alternative tradingsystems and that divided shares amount is submitted to each of theplurality of alternative trading systems.

The common financial common platform then monitors each of the pluralityof alternative trading systems to determine if at least a portion of thebuy-order was executed by one of the plurality of alternative tradingsystems. And if yes, then that indicated execution for one of theplurality of alternative trading systems is automatically accepted andautomatically canceled are the remaining buy orders that were submittedto the other alternative trading system which were not yet executed.

The common financial computer platform then preferably determines analternative trading system from one of the plurality of alternativetrading systems that is receive a balance of the outstanding buy-orderafter the executing alternative trading systems executed the submittedat least a portion of said buy-order.

IV. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more readily apparent upon consideration of the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings,in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout thedrawings and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic chart of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic chart of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the present invention of FIG. 2 depictingits operation.

V. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

For purposes of the present invention, a “buy-side trader” is to beunderstood as a trader who executes orders (buy, sell, sell short) forthe mutual funds and/or hedge funds of an asset management company. Nowwith reference to prior art methods concerning buy-side tradersinteraction with several ATS's, FIG. 1 generally depicts how this wasaccomplished. In the example of FIG. 1, buy-side trader 10 is permittedto trade with two ATS's, (e.g., ATS 20 and 30). Accordingly, forbuy-side trader 10 to use both of these ATS's (e.g., ATS's 20 and 30),buy-side trader 10 had to independently contact each terminal system(e.g., computer terminals 22, 32) associated with each respective ATS(e.g., ATS 20 and 30). Thus, buy-side trader 10 had to be enabled to useat least two differing protocols to conduct business with eachrespective ATS (e.g., ATS 20 and 30). The buy-side trader 10communicates with ATS 20 through computer trading terminal 22, and withATS 30 through computer trading terminal 32. As is conventional, forenabling trades, trading terminal 22 of ATS 20 is connected to its ATSdatabase and processor system 24 and trading terminal 32 of ATS 30 isconnected to its database and processor system 34.

It is of course to be appreciated that each aforesaid ATS 20, 30 mayalso simultaneously be coupled to other third party buy-side traders.For instance, with respect to ATS 30, its trading terminal is showncoupled to third party buy-side traders 60 and 70.

It is shown in FIG. 1 that buy-side trader 10 is not a subscriber of ATS40 consisting of trading terminal 42 and database and processor system44. And like ATS 40, buy-side trader 10 is also not a member of ATS 50consisting of trading terminal 52 and database and processor system 54.Thus buy-side trader 10 does not have access to either of ATS's 40 and50 as there can be no interaction between their respective tradingterminals 44 and 54, and database and processor system's 44 and 54.

Therefore as can be seen from FIG. 1, in the prior art system, buy sidetrader 10 must either use separate trading terminals (22, 32) associatedwith each respective ATS (20, 30). Thus the buy-side trader 10 must beable to use multiple applications on one or more terminals to compareand share prices and to make his/her bids/offers. Further, the buy-sidetrader 10 may split a large order into bids or offers between two ormore terminals or applications. The trading terminals 22 and 32typically use different protocols to access market data, place bids andoffers and execute transactions. In some real sense, this destroys theability to trade in real-time due to the natural delays associated withcollecting information from a number of trading terminals, using anumber of different protocols and responding on one or more on suchtrading terminals. Such separate systems and terminals not only make itdifficult to obtain optimal data it makes it difficult to performanalytics against the data to aid in trading decisions.

As seen in FIG. 2, the present invention eliminates the need for abuy-side trader 100 to be individually coupled to each trading terminal(112, 122, 132, 142, 152, 162) for each respective ATS (110, 120, 130,140, 150, 160). This is achieved through the use of an AggregatingComputer System (ACS) 105. Preferably, ACS 105 comprises a computerprocessor coupled to one or more databases and having the necessaryalgorithms and software programs for enabling the below describedfunctionality.

What is shown in FIG. 2 is the ACS 105 electronically coupled to aplurality ATS's 110-160 via their respective trading terminals 112-162.It is to be appreciated that the ACS 105 is only applicable for use withbuy-side traders and is not intended for any sell-side traders infurtherance of maintaining the anonymity of the buy-side trader.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, ACS 105 ispreferably coupled to the trading terminals of ATS's for: ITG Post 110;Liquidnet 120; Harborside 130; Instinet Cross 140; Pipeline 150; andNYFIX Millenium 160. It is of course to be appreciated that inaccordance with the present invention, ACS 100 is coupled andinteroperable with as many different ATS's as desired, thus the presentinvention is not to be understood to be limited only to the ATS's shownin FIG. 2.

The ACS 105 performs a number of interrelated functions that may becarried out on one computer or a network of computers. ACS 105 isconfigured to provide the buy-side trader 100 complete access andfunctionality to each aforesaid coupled ATS (110, 120, 130, 140, 150,160) on a single computer platform. As will be explained below, thebuy-side trader 100, through implementation of ACS 105, will becomeimmediately aware if any volume in trades of stock become available fromany of the ATS's (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160) to which buy-side trader100 previously submitted an order to. Further, the ACS 105 is configuredto be fully interoperable with each aforesaid ATS 110-160 such that ACS105 is programmed with the individual communication protocols associatedwith each platform associated with each ATS 110-160 necessary to enablebi-lateral trading communication between the ACS 105 and each ATS110-160.

It is to be appreciated that while the underlying principle and goal ofcrossing networks is the same, each ATS operates slightly differentlyand maintains different membership criteria. The platform will give fullaccess to the information maintained on each crossing network as well ascomplete functionality of each ATS. Protocols included will be basiccommunication to enter buy/sell orders that interact with each ATS, theability to include/exclude any of the ATS's, the ability to negotiatewith participants on each system, the ability to change parametersduring the life of the order—order size, price limits, percentage to beexecuted over the course of the day given the opportunity, ability toexpand upon the order if original order is completed, ability to receiveand negotiate a program (a program is a computer file of numerous ordersthat need to be executed over a specific time period, given specificparameters such as price or other strategies. An example of a programtrade would be a file consisting of 250 buys/250 sells that need to beexecuted if able to do so in the inside quote. The system needs to beable to handle that type of order flow as well since it is a largepercentage of trading volume on a daily basis. Furthermore, there are noexisting platforms to send small cap programs to and this platform isideal for such a program given the illiquid nature of small cap stocks.)

Therefore, as depicted in FIG. 2, rather than a buy-side trader 100being individually coupled to each individual ATS, as is required by theprior art system of FIG.1, the ACS 105 of the present invention isconfigured to enable instantaneous communication with each aforesaid ATSso to submit and collect order information from each individual ATS. Itis to be appreciated that ACS 105 communicates anonymously with each ATS110-160 whereby the identity of the buy-side trader 100 is concealed toeach ATS 110-160 and the buy-side trader accesses all pools of liquidityon each ATS quickly and efficiently without adversely affecting thestock price. In other words, the buy-side traders 100 is never displayedto any other third party since the ACS 105 functions as an anonymousintermediary between the buy-side trader 105 and each aforesaid ATS. Itis to be appreciated that ACS 105 may be configured in numerousconfigurations, including, but not limited to as a software system on aPC associated with a buy-side trader, as a broker-dealer type ofplatform, or as a hybrid solution that allows the buy-side trader tointeroperate with both aforesaid buy-side traders PC and broker-dealertype of platform. Through preferably the software implemented in ACS105, a buy-side trader preferably controls the various known parametersof their order through the use of price limits, inclusion/exclusion ofany of the ATS's 110-160, percentage of the overall order to send eachATS, and access to a smart router.

In regards to the present invention, a smart router is to be understoodas preferably be enabled to transmit orders to the most advantageous ATSbased on historical trading data. For example, if the buy-side traderwanted to send an order in XYZ to the platform, the smart router woulddetermine from historical data, which of the ATS's traded the mostoverall volume in xyz in the past month. The smart router could be setup using different parameters depending on the buy-side trader'sstrategy. Some trading styles are more price sensitive (in which caseprice data could be obtained—which ATS provided liquidity with minimumprice impact in the past month? Some traders care more aboutvolume—which ATS traded the most volume in the past month in stock, xyz?Some traders are more concerned with market cap—which ATS traded thelargest percentage of small cap stocks in the past month?) In summation,the smart router equips the buy-side trader with the ability to sendhis/her order in real time to the optimum destination based onhistorical performance.

As will also be explained below, once there has been a “hit” by one ofthe AtS's 110-160 regarding an order submitted by ACS 105, the ACS 105is configured to automatically terminate the orders submitted to theremaining ATS's 110-160. Thus, this is advantageous because the buy-sidetrader 100 is enabled to reevaluate the outstanding order strategy so asto not mislead the market that there are actually several other orderson the same side of one security via the remaining ATS's 110-160.Preferably, all reports that are transmitted back to the buy-side trader100 from the various ATS's 110-160 are transmitted to the buy-sidetrader via FIX. It is noted FIX stands for financial informationexchange technology and it is a network which connects the buy-side tothe sell-side and connects both the buy-side and the sell-side to ATS'sand connects the sell-side to the trading floors-such as NYSE, AMEX.This electronic network enables order flow to be sent and executed inreal time and eliminates a great deal of human error since allparameters of the order are transmitted electronically instead of beingverbalized. While FIX does not eliminate the need for human interaction,it sends the basic order information and then the traders can discussthe real detail of the order and the corresponding execution reports.

With the ACS 105 and its interoperability with the ATS's 110-160 beingdescribed above, its method of operation will now be described withreference to FIG. 3 and with continuing reference to FIG. 2.

Starting at step 300, a buy-side trader 100 contacts ACS 105 to place abuy order for a prescribe commodity (e.g., stock in XYZ corp.). Thebuy-side trader 105 prescribes at least the necessary parameters forsuch an order, step 305. For instance, such parameters of an order mayinclude: order size or number of shares, price limits, percentage of theorder to be worked over the course of the day or percentage of the orderto be sent to each ATS if it should not be divided equally among the 6ATS's, the ability to reload if the first part of the order is executed,strategies in line (to pay inside the quote) or scale (to bring thestock in if you're a buyer or scale it up if you're a seller)momentum—to continue to pay up as a buyer or to continue to sell atlower prices.

For purposes of more fully understanding the method depicted in FIG. 2,a trading scenario will be described whereby a buy-side trader 100desires to buy 60,000 shares of XYZ corp. at a price no higher than$43.00 per share.

After the ACS 105 receives the buy-side trader's 100 order, it thenformats the order for submission to each ATS 110-160 it is preferablycoupled to, step 310. As mentioned above, each individual submission ofan order to each ATS 110-160 shall meet the protocol requirementprescribed by each aforesaid individual ATS 110-160. Additionally, ACS105 preferably divides the buy-side trader's 100 order request (e.g.,60,000) equally for each ATS 110-160 an order is to be submittedthereto, step 315. For example, if the ACS 105 is to submit an order toeach ATS 110-160, then each submission to each ATS 110-160 shall be for10,000 shares of XYZ corp. Thus in step 320, an order for 10,000 sharesof XYZ corp. at a price no higher than $43.00 per share iselectronically submitted from ACS 105 to each of ATS's 110, 120, 130,140, 150 and 160. After submission, ACS 105 awaits reports from each ATS110-160 indicating whether an individual order (e.g., 10,000 shares ofXYZ corp.) on a respective ATS was executed or not, step 325.

At step 330 a determination is made as to whether any of the ATS's110-160 to which an order was submitted actually executed an aforesaidorder submission (e.g., 10,000 shares of XYZ corp.). If no, then adetermination is made as to whether a report has been issued from one ofthe ATS's 110-160 to which an order was submitted indicating a declinefor execution of the order, step 335. If yes (an order submission wasdeclined by ATS 130), than the ACS 105 cancels the order submission tothat declining ATS (e.g., ATS 130) with the remaining individual orders(e.g., 10,000 shares of XYZ corp.) for each of the remaining ATS's(e.g., ATS's 110, 120, 140, 150 and 160) being in an active state, step340. And if at step 335, a determination is made that no reports wereissued from any ATS's declining execution of an order, then the processreturns to step 330 for a determination as to whether any of theremaining ATS's executed an aforesaid order submission (e.g., 10,000shares of XYZ corp.).

If at step 330 reports were issued from one or more ATS's indicatingthat THE BID was at least partially executed (e.g., ATS 110 executed theorder for the entire 10,000 shares of XYZ corp. and ATS 160 executed theorder for 5,000 shares) then the outstanding order submissions to theremaining ATS's (e.g.,ATS's 120, 140 and 150) are immediately canceled,step 345. Preferably ACS 105 then determines the remaining balance ofthe shares for the buy-side trader's original order (step 305) that isstill outstanding (e.g., XYZ corp.), step 350. Next, ACS 105 determineswhich ATS should the outstanding balance of the order (e.g., 45,000shares of XYZ corp.) be submitted to for execution thereof, step 355. Ifat step 330 only one ATS (e.g., ATS 110) executed an order, then ACS 105would preferably determine to send the outstanding balance of the order(e.g., 45,000 shares of XYZ corp. (e.g., ATS 110). If however more thanone ATS executed an order submission from ACS 105 (e.g., ATS 110executed the order for the entire 10,000 shares of XYZ corp. and ATS 160executed the order for the order for 5,000shares), then ACS 105preferably determines from which ATS that previously executed an order(ATS 110 and 160) should receive the submission for the outstandingorder balance (e.g., 45,000 shares of XYZ corp.). It is to beappreciated that ACS 105 may use various parameters to make thisdetermination including bid price, share availability, number ofparticipants on the other side of the trade, trading style of the buyside trader who is the user of the system—passive—more pricesensitive/aggressive—more concerned with accumulating volume, the user'sentire picture (if filled on 15,000 shares and the remaining order isfor 45,000 shares, the determination on whether or not to send theentire 45,000 shares is largely based on what the buy-side trader'sentire order is for. Even though the user sent 60,000 shares to theplatform, he/she may have an additional 1 million shares behind it.

For purposes of this description, ACS 105 determines that ATS 110 willreceive the outstanding balance of the order (e.g., 45,000 shares of XYZcorp.) since ATS 110 originally executed the order for more shares(e.g., 10,000) than that of ATS 160 (e.g., 5,000 shares). Thus, at step355 ACS 105 submits A BID for the balance (e.g., 45,000 shares of XYZcorp.) of the original buy-side traders ORDER (e.g., 60,000 shares) tothe ATS as determined in step 350 (e.g., ATS 110). It is to appreciatedthat in the event the ATS determined in step 350 (e.g., ATS 110) isunable to execute on the entire balance remaining (e.g., 45,000 shares)then the ACS 105 may be configured to recalculate the balance remainingafter execution by the ATS determined in step 350 (e.g., ATS 110) andsubmit that balance for execution to another ATS the was involved in thedetermination of step 350 (e.g., ATS 160).

Therefore a clear advantage of the present invention is that ACS 105 isenabled to simultaneously place bids/offers to a plurality of ATS's,with each bids/offers only being a portion of the buy-side tradersentire order (step 305) so as to acquire the desired commodity at a mostefficient price since no one ATS is initially aware of the entirebuy-side trader's order. Otherwise, if an ATS was originally aware ofthe entire buy-side trader's order, that ATS could cause unfavorablechanges in the price of the aforesaid desired commodity. A furtheradvantage of the present invention is that when one or more ATS's reportexecution of an order, the ACS 105 automatically cancels the outstandingorders with all other ATS's. This is advantageous because it does notleave any footprints. In other words, it does not leave the impressionthat there are 6 individual orders on one side for that one security.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, at step 355,instead of the ACS 105 determining which ATS shall receive thesubmission for the balance of the buy-side trader's order, a user of ACS105 contacts the buy side-trader 100 to strategize as to which ATS shallreceive the balance of the order. This is advantageous because at thispoint, the buy-side trader is given information regarding the order flowacross 6 ATS's at the same time. This enables the buy-side trader torethink strategy and change parameters of the order if necessary. Thisgives the buy-side trader options-to change order, to stick withoriginal parameters to reload or add to the order, to strategize basedupon information received and to have a trained professional deliver andinterpret the information—to aid in the negotiation process with theATS's.

In summary, a system and method for aggregating and strategicallyaccessing multiple ATS's across multiple platforms for maximizing thevalue of a buy-side trader's order has been described. Although thepresent invention has been described with emphasis on particularembodiments, it should be understood that the figures are forillustration of the exemplary embodiment of the invention and should notbe taken as limitations or thought to be the only means of carrying outthe invention. Further, it is contemplated that many changes andmodifications may be made to the invention without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention as disclosed.

1. A method for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofalternative trading systems using a common financial computer platform,said method comprising the steps of: receiving at said common financialcomputer platform a buy-order for a prescribed trading commodity;establishing communication between said common financial computerplatform and each of said plurality of alternative trading systems;seperating said buy-order into a plurality of portions; submitting eachsaid portion of said buy-order simultaneously from said common financialcomputer platform respectivly to each said alternative trading systems;monitoring each of said plurality of alternative trading systems todetermine if a said at least a portion of said buy-order was executed byone of said plurality of alternative trading systems; automaticallyaccepting a determined execution from a said alternative trading systemsfor a submitted at least a portion of said buy-order; and automaticallycanceling by said common financial computer platform said other portionsof said buy-order submitted to each of said other plurality ofalternative trading systems upon execution by said executing alternatingtrading system.
 2. A method for performing financial trading amongst aplurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 whereinin the receiving step the buy-order includes the number of stock sharesto be purchased, price limits for the number of stock shares to bepurchased and the percentage of the buy-order that may be consummatedduring a business day.
 3. A method for performing financial tradingamongst a plurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 1wherein the establishing communication step includes the commonfinancial computer platform being configured to individually communicatewith each of said plurality of alternative trading systems without anyfurther modification to said common financial computer platform.
 4. Amethod for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofalternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 wherein the pluralityof alternative trading systems are chosen from the group consisting of:ITG Post; Liquidnet; Harborside; Instinet Cross; Pipeline; and NYFIXMillenium.
 5. A method for performing financial trading amongst aplurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 whereinthe step of sperating a portion of said buy-order includes dividing anumber of shares prescribed in said buy-order by a number equal to thenumber of alternative trading systems contained in said plurality ofalternative trading systems and submitting said divided number of sharesto each of said plurality of alternative trading systems.
 6. A methodfor performing financial trading amongst a plurality of alternativetrading systems as recited in claim 5 wherein the step of separating aportion of said buy-order includes submitting said divided number ofshares to each of said plurality of alternative trading systems.
 7. Amethod for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofalternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 further including thestep determining an alternative trading system from one of saidplurality of alternative trading systems that is receive a balance ofthe outstanding buy-order after said executting alternative tradingsystems executed said submitted at least a portion of said buy-order. 8.A method for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofalternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 further including thesteps: providing a smart router; and transmitting said buy-order fromsaid smart router to at least one predetermined alternative tradingsystem based upon historical trading data.
 9. A method for performingfinancial trading amongst a plurality of alternitive trading systemsusing a common financial computer platform, said method comprising thesteps of: recieving at said common financial computer platform, saidmethod comprising the prescribed trading commodity; establishingcommunication between said common financial computer platform and eachof said plurality of alternitive trading systems; separating saidbuy-order into a plurality of portions, said plurality being a numberequal to the number of alternative trading systems contained in saidplurality of alternative trading systems; submitting each said portionof said buy-order simultaniously from said common financial computerplatform and each said plurality of alternative trading systemsincluding dividing a number of shares prescribed in said buy-order by anumber equal to the number of alternative trading systems contained insaid plurality of alternative trading systems; monitoring each of saidplurality of alternative trading systems to determine if a said at leasta portion of said buy-order was executed by one of said plurality ofalternative trading systems; automatically accepting a determinedexecution from a said alternitive trading systems for a submitted atleast a portion of said buy-order; and automatically canceling by saidcommon financial computer platform said other portions of said buy-ordersubmitted to each of said other plurality of alternative trading systemsupon execution by said executing alternating trading system.
 10. Amethod for performing financial trading amongst a plurality ofalternative trading systems as recited in claim 9 wherein in thereceiving step the buy-order includes the number of stock shares to bepurchased, price limits for the number of stock shares to be purchasedand the percentage of the buy-order that may be consummated during abusiness day.
 11. A method for performing financial trading amongst aplurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 9 whereinthe establishing communication step includes the common financialcomputer platform being configured to individually communicate with eachof said plurality of alternative trading systems without any furthermodification to said common financial computer platform.
 12. A methodfor performing financial trading amongst a plurality of alternativetrading systems as recited in claim 9 wherein the plurality ofalternative trading systems are chosen from the group consisting of: ITGPost; Liquidnet; Harborside; Instinet Cross; Pipeline; and NYFIXMillenium.
 13. A method for performing financial trading amongst aplurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 9 whereinthe step of submitting a portion of said buy-order includes submittingsaid divided number of shares to each of said plurality of alternativetrading systems.
 14. A method for performing financial trading amongst aplurality of alternative trading systems as recited in claim 9 furtherincluding the step determining an alternative trading system from one ofsaid plurality of alternative trading systems that is receive a balanceof the outstanding buy-order after said executing alternative tradingsystems executed said submitted at least a portion of said buy-order.15. Amethod for performing financial trading amongst a plurality afalternative trading systems as recited in claim 1 wherein the step ofseparating a portion of said buy-order includes dividing a number ofshares perscribed in said buy-order by a number proportionate to thenumber of alternative trading systems in said plurality of alternativetrading systems and submitting said divided number of shares to each ofsaid plurality of alternative trading systems.
 16. A method forperforming financial tradining amongst a plurality of alternativetrading systems as recited in claim 9 wherein the step of separating aportion of said buy-order includes dividing a number of sharesperscribed in said buy-order by a number proportionate to the number ofalternative trading systems contained in said plurality of alternativetrading systems and submitting said divided number of shares to each ofsaid plurality of alternative trading systems.
 17. A system forperforming financial trading amongst a plurality of alternative tradingsystems using a common financial computer platform, said systemcomprising: a common financial computer platform that receives abuy-order for a prescribed trading commodity; said common financialcomputer platform configured to: establish communication with each ofsaid plurality of alternative trading systems; separate said buy-orderinto a plurality of portions; simultaneously submit each said buy-orderportion respectively to each of said plurality of alternative tradingsystems; simultaneously monitor each of said plurality of alternativetrading systems to determine if a submitted portion of said buy-orderwas executed by one of said plurality of alternative trading systems;and simultaneously cancel said submission of each said portion of saidbuy-order that were not executed upon execution of said executingportion of said buy-order.